Introduction to Microcontroller Based Irrigation System Project:
Due to insufficient rains and lack of proper storage reservoirs there is a need to use the limited water resources effectively. By using microcontroller based irrigation system the water the wastage of water gets reduced as the water is directly supplied near the roots. But it is very difficult to supply water only where there is a requirement, so by using an embedded based microcontroller design it is possible. In this paper we will look into the various microcontroller based irrigation methods.
Brief on the design and working:
To make a design we should look into the type of soil and the amount of water to be supplied for each plant and the time intervals to follow for supplying water. We will be using temperature and moisture sensors which will be buried under the soil each line of drip. When the temperature and the moisture are reached to the required point then they transmit a signal to the microcontroller which drives the relays by making the pipe valves to turn off.
This design can be implemented to sprinklers, drip pipes and rotary systems. Based upon the information given by sensors the microcontroller turns the pipes on or off for supply of water to the plants. For this design we will be using an 89C51 microcontroller which has 8KB of flash memory which is best suited for programming our application. The microcontroller program is written in embedded c and is loaded into the flash memory by using keil software. A DC motor is used for regulating the flow of water through the pipes. Amplifiers are connected to the sensors so as to energize the out coming signal the sensors.
Advantages:
This design is a low cost model and it can be easily installed. By employing this design we can reduce manpower and we can look after the water supply very easily. By using drip irrigation the wastage of water gets reduced and by supplying required amount of water to the plants we can yield more. This is error free design as we are using a microcontroller for monitoring the system.
Download ECE Project Report on Microcontroller Based Irrigation System.